The October 2025 General Meeting was held on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 via Zoom. Foreman Bandama with the Field Museum presented on African archaeology and anthropology. His presentation is titled “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa”

There are over twenty-five great African civilizations, besides Egypt. How many of these do you know? The widely employed Childean proxy for civilizations falls short every time one ventures beyond the Eurasian borders, and Africa is no exception. Using the medieval site of Great Zimbabwe (1000-1900CE) in Zimbabwe, as a vignette, this talk explores pre-industrial socio-political complexity in southern Africa and how this compares to other regions. This work does not only recast the light on prejudiced thinking but also speaks to skewed research and museum coverage of the story of Africa. I use archaeological and archaeometallurgical lenses to connect the great African achievements to the story of civilizations.